


The Dead Are Alive

by fuckyeahdeafandasexual



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Girl with All the Gifts (2016), The Girl with All the Gifts - M. R. Carey
Genre: Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, LLF Comment Project, Mild Gore, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-15 23:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13624059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckyeahdeafandasexual/pseuds/fuckyeahdeafandasexual
Summary: Nothing matters.Only food.Survival.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spectralarchers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectralarchers/gifts).



> I know I was supposed to just write a summary based on the fic title but then my brain ran away with it. Thanks to @spectralarchers for the not so easy prompt, but in the end I had much fun with it ;) Enjoy!
> 
> This is an HungryPlague!AU, based on the book (by M.R. Carey) and the movie 'The Girl With All The Gifts'.

They were scouting a former military base for anything they could use. Proteins. Weapons. Maybe some animals that hided in the base. 

There wasn't much. They had found two guns, with plenty of bullets, on a couple of soldiers who had ended up as a meal to the Hungries that had invaded the base.

No proteins yet. Or something else that could serve as a meal. 

Dead meat isn't appealing. 

Clint thought back at what their teacher, mister Coulson, told them at their old base. 

Back when everything was so much simpler. Then everything existed of only classes. And meals, once in a week. And chemical baths since water was sparse.

Back when mister Coulson was one of their teachers, but Clint always liked him best. He never made fun of Clint's bad ears and even taught the class some sign language so they could communicate with Clint when his hearing aids didn't work.

Mister Coulson had told them once about the Hungry Plague. A virus had swept over the global population, twenty years ago, turning humans into Hungries. 

There were few humans unaffected, and they tried to find a cure. 

Clint had been part of that cure. And Tony. And Bruce. And Tasha. And Steve. There had been nineteen other children, all of them being second generation Hungries, but Clint can barely remember their names. 

But the five of them had stuck together, ever since the first generation Hungries had invaded the base.

The last time Clint had seen mister Coulson, he had been devoured by a group Hungries.

Clint still dreams about it sometimes.

That had been twenty-five moons ago.

Not that time matters now. 

Nothing matters.

Only food.

Survival.

"Clint?"

It's Tony. 

"Yeah?"

"I heard some noise downstairs. Want to check it out with me?"

"Okay."

Clint draws his bow and they go silently, not wanting to spook whatever is making noises there. He hopes it are some rats. Could make a good change for a meal instead of the usual insects.

It aren't rats.

It is a Hungry. 

A Hungry like them. Second generation. A child of Hungries.

It is shackled with its foot to the wall. 

Trapped. 

How long had this poor child been here downstairs? 

Left behind by the humans. Invisible to the first gen Hungries.

No way to get out.

Nobody to talk to.

And then Clint notices the boys left arm. Or better, the lack of it. There is only a little stump left, all bloody. 

Clint can see bone sticking out of it.

The boy had been here long enough to eat its own arm. 

"Go get Steve. He has some protein left in his rugsack," Tony says and Clint nods. 

"Don't do anything stupid," he warns, "maybe he wants to eat you."

And then he runs through the corridors, looking and yelling for Steve. 

He doesn't has to search for long. He is with Bruce and Tasha and they all follow him downstairs. 

What they don't expect is for Steve to know the boy.

Bucky.

They all know Steve is different from them. Steve has had a live Outside. Living with other second gen Hungries, before he was captured and brought to their base. 

The rest of them has no collection of such life. They only could remember their life at the base. 

Steve sometimes talked about Bucky, his best friend.

His best friend who is now sitting in front of them, shackled to a wall and very very hungry. 

They end up giving him three portions of dried cockroaches and other insects before he calms down. 

Bruce and Tony are looking around in the for something sharp and heavy enough to break the shackles with. 

Once Bucky is free, they just can't break the schackle around his foot, they leave the base and start walking in whatever direction.

It never matters what direction they walk to. They have no place to go to.

Bucky stumbles a bit, trying to walk again with his messed up balance. He never leaves Steves side and doesn't say much. 

They lit a fire before the sun goes down and it starts getting cold. Steve reads a bit from a book with Greek mythology he found in an abandoned library. 

Clint reads Steve's lips the best he can but he still doesn't get everything. He will ask Steve again to let him read the story in the book after he's finished reading to the rest of the group. 

Bucky is fast asleep before the story is done.


	2. Chapter 2

They hike along a motorway for a couple of days that leads them to a city called 'New York'. It's the city where Steve and Bucky came from.

Their little family gets used to Bucky. They learn him basic fingerspelling and sign language so he can communicate with Clint without the help of others. 

There were no teachers in Bucky's base so they learn him how to read and write and do simple math. 

They teach him the things mister Coulson has taught them. 

It's fun.

During their hike they scavenger for new clothes for Bucky, a backpack and a sleeping bag.

Steve searches a local library in a tiny ruined town for some stories they haven't read yet. 

They make their overnight camp by a lake for their weekly wash. Scrubbing blood and dirt of their clothes and bodies and putting on their other set of clothing. The washed clothes dry on an improvised clothesline between two trees.

Bruce, Natasha and Tony go collect insects they transport in glass jars to feed on while they are underway.

Clint is the one who hunts the bigger meat. With his bow and arrows, made from wood and leftover clothesline rope, he can shoot birds and rabbits from a distance.

Bucky joins him, since he can see much better and sharper and can show Clint prey he hasn't noticed. 

They form a good team.

They get plenty of fresh meat for everyone. The others congratulate them and they all lay around half-asleep with full bellies. 

It is a good feeling. 

Two days later they reach a river called 'Hudson', according to Steve's 'tourist guide' he found in the latest bookshop they passed by.

The river leads to New York. 

At the end of the river is huge statue of a woman holding something in the air.

Her name is Liberty. Lady Liberty.

Representing the Freedom of The United States of America.

Welcoming immigrants from abroad.

Mister Coulson had told them about her when teaching them about famous historical monuments. 

And now he's free and standing before Her and mister Coulson is dead. 

Or a Hungry. 

Which Clint really hopes he isn't. 

They make a camp on the roof of a high building near the water.

There are a lot of higher buildings in New York, which are called skyscrapers, according to Bruce. 

The next few days they scout the environment in group. They find a skyscraper with a couple of floors at the top with apartments that look new and untouched. There is a lot of dust but nothing that a good cleaning can solve. 

The windows are dirty but intact, and give a good view on the forest, that used to be Central Park.

There are stairs to the roof and the door isn't closed. Tony and Bruce squeal when they see the solar panels and try to test them out immediately.

They work.

In the end they all agree on staying in the tower. 

It is their tower now. 

Their home.

Bucky and Clint get wood, loose branches, from the forest and make a fire in the open fireplace. 

That night, when they are all soundly sleeping around the fireplace, with the sound of the wind howling outside the Tower, something happens. 

Nobody knows what. But the next day there are little seeds flying in the air. 

Bruce and Tony have a field day with it. 

It seems the Hungry virus has gone airborne. 

It doesn't do anything to them. 

But the humans... 

The humans are all lost now. 

Nowhere safe.

Clint doesn't know how to feel about that.

The humans used to to experiment on them. 

And after the invasion, when they were free from the base and the cells, humans tried to hunt them down.

Tried to kill them. 

But humanity is gone now.

The knowledge and wisedom are now left behind in books. 

A couple of days later, Clint and Bucky go on of their scavenging/hunting trips through New York.

"Clint! Look!"

Clint looks up from where he is rummaging through a box of stuff. They are in some sort of adventure shop he thinks, looking for whatever they think that can be useful.

Is that a bow?

Yes!

Bucky is holding a bow in his hand. And it isn't like his shitty bow made from a branch. 

No, this is a beautiful bow made from something Clint doesn't recognize but it feels strong. 

"How many are there?" 

"Five," Bucky says, grinning, "And there are so many arrows! I don't think you will ever run out of arrows again."

They collect all the bows and they can find and put it in their rusted wheelbarrow that they had found on another scavenging trip. 

They found some more unopened boxes of matches and even a still packaged binocular that was laying forgotten on the lowest shelf.

It has been a damn good trip, Clint thinks by himself as they made their way back to the Tower. 

It won't be long till the sun has gone under and Steve will scold them for staying outside in the dark. 

Steve is pretty bossy for such a skinny little guy. He is even smaller than Tony.

Luckily for them, they arrive on time. 

Everyone helps getting the stuff to their floors on top of the Tower and they all coo over the new bows. Now that they have enough and strong bows, maybe they can all try to learn how to shoot with them. 

So they wouldn't have to solely rely on Clint for the bigger pieces of meat.

Bucky still prefers using guns though. Shooting arrows with one armed isn't doable. 

Maybe they could search for some spears. 

They watch the sunset on the roof and look at the stars for a while. 

Steve reads them from The Hobbit.

It is a warm night. 

Summer is coming. 

The next day they all help Tony and Bruce building a water reservoir that collects and filters the rainwater. 

They won't have to walk to the lake anymore to get water or to wash or clean their clothes anymore. 

The first time they had gone to the lake they had encountered another group of second generation Hungries. 

They were not civilized. Very wild. And rude.

Throwing rocks and growling. 

Defending their territorium.

So they keep now away from that part of Central Park, not wanting to provoke the other group. 

Till now, Clint and Bucky have succeeded in avoiding them while hunting in the forest. 

The next morning, when the sun is at its highest, they are on the roof again. 

It's becoming a habit. 

A nice habit. 

It's a good view.

Clint likes it up here. So does Bucky.

They have just finished cleaning Clints arrows when Bucky proposes a game of 'I Spy' with the binocular.

It's all fun till Clint notices something. 

He wouldn't have seen it without the binocular.

There is someone sitting on the roof of the skycraper a few blocks away. 

He tells Bucky. 

They can't see if it's a Hungry or an actual Human.

What would a they do so far up? 

Where there is no food?

"Let's go take a look." Bucky says and Clint reluctantly agrees.

Of course Clint is a bad liar, so when Natasha asks where they are going, they end up telling the rest of their family about the stranger. 

They all insist on coming with them. 

It's isn't long till they reach the other skycraper. The inside is a ruin, and the lower floors are littered with decomposed bodies and dead hungries. 

The inner staircase of the tower is dark and a lot of rats flee when Tony turns on the flashlight they brought with them.

Silently they begin the climb to the roof. There are a lot of levels and sometimes they have to jump over a body laying on the stairs.

Clint doesn't look at the faces.

If they have one.

Finally they reach the top. 

Clint holds his arrows ready to fire them if the stranger tries to attack them. 

Natasha slowly pushes the door open, trying to make not a sound. 

The stranger is sitting on the side of the roof. Almost relaxed. 

Writing something in a book. 

His raven black hair looks greasy. His skin pale.

And then he looks up and smiles.

"Hello," he says.

Well. 

Definitely not a Hungry then. They never talk.

But Humans can't survive out here. Not with the virus gone airborne and the seeds drifting through the air everywhere.

The stranger starts to talk, a bit too fast for Clint to read his lips properly. 

Natasha signs the basics for him.

L-O-K-I

A-L-I-E-N

A-S-G-A-R-D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of LLF Comment Project (@longlivefeedback on tumblr), whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites:
> 
> Feedback
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> “<3” as extra kudos  
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> Many thanks to Menatiera and the Chatzy writing chat! Thanks for the word wars and the nice words ;)


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